Напольная акустика — Verity Audio Otello

Otello is a single-column floorstanding speaker from Verity Audio of Canada, a firm that has built loudspeakers since 1995. Two separate enclosures are joined into one tower yet kept mechanically apart, and the maker aims the model at moderate-size listening rooms. The current owner's manual, revision 2.0, is dated June 2020, and the document carries a 2018 copyright.

Key specs that matter

Layout is three-way with a reflex-loaded bass section. Two 178 mm woofers with edge-coated reed and paper-pulp cones run in parallel, a 127 mm doped polypropylene midrange uses a 50 mm SD-1 motor, and treble comes from an SD-2 soft neo ring dome. Published bandwidth is 30 Hz to 50 kHz at the 3 dB points. Measured at 2.83 V and 1 m on axis, sensitivity reaches 93 dB. The load is 8 ohm nominal and does not fall below 4 ohm. Verity puts the lowest suitable amplifier output at 18 watts into 8 ohm, and the drivers tolerate 100 watts of music power. Width is 276 mm, depth 472 mm and height 1,107 mm, and a pair weighs 77 kg.

Engineering and use context

Between the upper and lower boxes lies a constrained-layer platform damped with special elastomers that isolates one enclosure from the other. Underneath, the tower rests on a dedicated floor isolation stand shaped to the cabinet base, a shell holding resonator and filter materials on four knurled feet with cushioned tips that let the speaker slide across the floor. The dividing network applies 1st-order slopes from woofers to midrange and 3rd-order slopes from midrange to tweeter, with components computer-matched and indexed. According to Verity, the bracing breaks wall resonances into several higher frequencies that carry less energy, and the panels are cut on computer-controlled tooling. Drivers need about 75 hours to reach 63 percent of full break-in and roughly 400 hours to reach 99 percent. The cabinets come in high gloss black or white lacquer, with Makore high gloss as a special order.

Pairing

The maker notes that the smooth impedance curve and high efficiency make the Otello usable with many amplifier types, single-ended triode designs included, and that solid state and valve units were both evaluated. On tube amplifiers with multiple output taps, Verity advises using the output tap rated for its nominal load, and input should stay under 150 watts rms. Pure silver five-way terminals are fitted, and spade lugs are the preferred cable termination.

Alternatives

The Verity Audio Arindal is the larger two-cabinet floorstander in the range, pairing a 241 mm sandwich-cone woofer with a 150 mm midrange.